We went on a nice but windy walk. Most of the stores are closed--either because it's Easter or because it's noon. Who knows? Anyway, we headed for the northwest part of the old city. We found the location of the office of the Montpellier Alpine Club, but it is only open on Thursdays after 7:30pm. It's in a wonderfully named location. It's in the section of town called the "Fine Arts" at the intersection of "Poetry Street" and "Musical Esplanade". How nice!
We found some amazing new sites by the medical and law schools. No camera, so I'll post pictures when I start blogging about the sites of Montpellier.
We made it back to the main plaza and went to the Polygone which is the mall in the downtown. We wanted to find the bathrooms, but they were in the section of the mall closed for Easter. So we went to the McDonald's. Elena found the bathroom. But you need to get a code that you can only get if you buy food. But Elena asked a girl outside the bathroom if she could let her in. They tried the code but it didn't work. Then they noticed a sign that said that the bathroom is not in service. There is a public bathroom, but the dog owning bums were camped there. So we picked up a couple of groceries at the Monoprix grocery store, which thankfully was open, and came home.
It's fun to find all these historical markers. I'll document them as I find them if I have a camera. We found the location that Marechal Foch stayed when he led the French army in WWI. Wine drinkers may recognize his name because there is a grape named after him. We also found the building where Napoleon's father died. It's near the halal butcher where we bought the turkey on Easter Sunday. There are some other markers, but they concern figures who I have heard of but who I don't know. I have to look them up.
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3 comments:
Hi Mark. I came across your blog when doing a search on taking French classes abroad. I just wanted to tell you your blog is GREAT -- I read ALL of it last night, starting with right after you quit your job in Seattle! In a year or two I want to visit the south of France, so your site is a good primer.
Keep up the great work, and looking forward to reading more about your and Elena's adventures in France and Africa.
-Felix
felixwong.com
Oh my, strangers are reading my blog. I guess I better improve my grammar/spelling. ;-) It is very 'first drafty'.
Thank you very much for the kind words, Felix. :-) I hope my blog stays fresh and interesting (yet sufficiently detailed) for people who come across it in their researches.
Yes, your posts have been sufficiently detailed without being overly verbose. I especially have appreciated your noting the costs of things over there, because the plunge of the dollar has been scaring me!
When I was last in France (2003), 1 Euro = $US1.10, which I thought was already pretty high since I still remember when 1 Euro = $0.88 (around 2000). So your posts were reassuring in that despite our crappy dollar, things aren't TOO unaffordable for us Americans over there... yet!! Though I'm hoping the dollar starts to rally again this year.
A bientôt!
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